This week, Joseph Lee talks to us about his Life After Uni, and starting on the Postgraduate Certificate in Employability and Entrepreneurship course (PGCEMP).
Having graduated in 2015 with a 2.1 in BA (Hons) Graphics for Games I have struggled to find a job in the games industry since leaving University. I have applied to many different jobs in West Yorkshire but unfortunately so far I have had no luck getting beyond the initial application process. When I saw the Postgraduate Certificate in Employability and Entrepreneurship I jumped at the opportunity to find out what it could be that I was doing wrong when applying for these jobs, and the course also offers the chance to find a placement where I can use what I have learnt on my degree. So far the staff have been very helpful and I feel that I have a lot more direction about where to go and what resources I can use to find and apply for jobs.
I feel quite confident that the knowledge I will gain by doing this course will enable me to secure a placement before April, which will hopefully lead on to improved future prospects within the games industry. I expect that during the course I will improve my CV and covering letter which will help me to get through the application process. The mock interviews later in the course will hopefully help me identify any problems that I have and improvements I could make in those areas before I manage to get a proper interview.
So far my biggest fear is that I may not be able to find a company to do the placement required for the course. The games industry in general is very competitive and therefore it can be very difficult for graduates to find positions, especially as I will be restricting my search to West Yorkshire mostly due to travel costs. However, over the past few days I have come to terms with the idea that any experience is good experience and I am now way more open to other opportunities that may arise.
Thanks to Joseph, we hope to catch up with him later in the year to see how he has progressed. If you’d like to know more about how to improve your employability skills, or the PGCEMP course, please get in touch with us.